How can the United States of America who upholds fundamental values such as pursuit of happiness and individualism be entangled with killing of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis inside their country? Wasn't The United States built entirely on the solid plateau of equality of man and free market?
The confederate United States was born in recent history through the mighty power of the American people. It all began after October 12, 1492 when Christopher Columbus accidentally landed on the Caribbean island of San Salvador. His plan was to reach the Indies and to bring into Europe the spices of the Indies and also help his sponsors’ wish of converting these new people into Christianity.
The persecuted Protestants of Europe, calling themselves the Pilgrims, poured into this new land to establish their own New England. On the voyage the Pilgrims’ ship the Mayflower was blown off course. Gradually, about 20,000 Puritan emigrants settled in New England.
Adam Smith’s Capitalism ensured private ownership and the free market. The declaration of independence was adopted by the congress on July 4, 1776. Under the constitution a federal government would take care of major national issues such as wars, taxation and coining money. However individual states remained in control of their own economic affairs. The Bill of Rights was written as amendment to the original constitution to secure basic individual rights.
All of this went into making this nation but, The U.S. had this change coming – Now a country with many enemies outside its borders and many unsatisfied citizens inside.
After all, many great nations have turned into monarchy of favoritism and strict religious doctrines such as Persia (today’s Iran) – although it was originally established as the first empire in the world under the humanistic insight of Cyrus The Great (500 BC).
Another example is China, which was unified for the first time in 221 B.C. The first Chinese emperor was Qin (Shi Huangdi – meaning First Emperor) whose followers brutally silenced criticism of imperial rule. The kings who followed banished or put to death many dissenting Confucian scholars and confiscated and burned their books and personal properties.
History really repeats itself. But, what went wrong with the United States?
All those pilgrims, with their preliminary measurements in bringing law and order to the new land, must have failed to see a day that this fragile government may rise to power and start pulling some threads in other nations’ internal affairs.
Sadly, over 30 Million people in The States are living without medical insurance. The government claims that the cost of creating an insurance program for all is beyond its current capabilities. Yet the war in Iraq costs this nation billions of dollars everyday.
Something seems missing both in internal and foreign policy of this government. Is it Morality that has long been forgotten in the world of politics? Or is it anything else? Lack of interest and trust of our younger generation to vote is obvious; and yet our leaders fail to see the big picture.
This article is not a political one. This article is an ethical examination of our political machine. After all we are what our government looks like.
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